First Leg Report: Who really needs a main?

[Steve Piche]

First Leg Report - Who really needs a main?

The first leg of the Great Texas yesterday tested the fleet. The
combination of big seas and big wind made it a

challenging but fast run.

Almost all teams ran into problems. The main on our boat ripped in
half just north of Mansfield cut. We decided

to just keep going. We were near Mike Rohrer when it happened and we
were able to keep up the pace with him. With

the wind blowing at 15-20, we were still doing 15-20 mph on the GPS
under spinnaker.

Since our main was gone, we had to reach our boat out to sea. We
could not get sucked down on to the shore where

we would have to drop the chute. With Juke out on the wire we headed
out to sea and the plan worked. We were able

to fly the spinnaker the whole way. During the last 10 miles, we over
strapped the chute to reduce the power so

that we could head higher. We only came in 13 minutes behind Mike
Rohrer's team!

Other teams suffered. Tommy Tyrone last his mast in a flip. The
first place team, Ruff Rider, flipped once. The

second place team, Quicksilver, flipped twice. Chris Green of Team
TCYDC had rudder problems. Team Chums broke a

casting. Miles Payne got sea sick and had a miserable ride on Yost's
boat.

It was a very rough day! The seas were large and very confused. We
were getting caught in breakers miles

off-shore. Juke took a real beating out on the trap. I never got on
the trap because it was too rough. It was

hard enough keeping the pointy end up from the tramp. Finally, a lot
of the day was spent slowing the boat down

rather than speeding it up. A puff would hit and the next thing you
knew you were flying down a big wave at mach 9

looking at the bottom of the trough thinking the boat was going to
flip. Whew, it went from racing to survival at

some point yesterday.

Now guess what - more of the same today. Winds are forecasted at
15-20 out of the southeast. Big seas are

forecasted too. Just another 100 miles of punishment for the hearty!

See everyone in Matagorda. Time to ssuit up.

Steve